Branching Video: Create your Own Adventure

What is a branching video?

Branching video, a.k.a. “Choose your own adventure” video is a digital experience where the viewer can create his own narrative.

The main objective of a branching video is to engage the viewer through interactive storytelling. In a branching video, decision points are used to ask the viewer questions and based on the reply; the viewer is sent to another part in the video. Video branching can combine different video clips to make an interactive story for the viewer.

You can see how the chocolate brand, Callebaut used a branching video to create an interactive recipe-building experience. The user creates his own chocolate cream puff by choosing the type of chocolate, base and filling. The chef then creates the dessert based on the viewer’s “order”, and then presents it to the viewer with a link to the recipe.

Benefits of Branching Video

You might be thinking, why don’t I just use my regular video? Videos are an effective marketing tool and deliver good results already. Why bother? Well, the branching video delivers even better results. Here are a couple of things to consider.

Branching Video provides higher engagement and longer viewing time on average than a linear video

You offer the viewer to become an active participant and influence what happens, instead of passively watching

With Branching Video you can track and understand your audience better; you track every choice the viewer makes and register it

By registering the audience insight, you can personalize your future marketing

You can include an opt-in form to grow your email list, people are more likely to opt-in to an interactive experience than to a linear video

You can tailor the content to match people’s preferences, based on their choices, and offer CTA matching it, offering a more personalised experience

All of this will help deliver a higher ROI, increase your conversion and engagement rate. You also your email list faster you can tailor future marketing into powerful personalized campaigns.

Branching video also opens up new potentials. It can be used for virtual consultation, virtual treasure hunt, or to present your company to new staff members.

Because of these definite benefits, more digital marketers are turning to Branching Video. In fact, around 92% of marketers said Interactive Video was an effective marketing tool in a recent Wyzowl report on ‘The State of Video Marketing in 2017.‘

With improved technology, we have seen a rapid increase in video and mobile use. This development has made videos more crucial than ever in marketing. Video traffic is estimated to count for 82% of all consumer Internet traffic in 2021. In fact, it’s become incredibly difficult to stand out on digital channels with a linear video, when everyone else shares videos.

By using an interactive video, you stand out from the crowd and reach beyond the noise on digital channels.

How to make Branching Video?

Making Branching Video is not as hard as you may think. What you need to get started is a video and to create a roadmap. You use the map to help you decide on what stories will be told, and what questions will be asked. To simplify, you split the video into different outcomes or stories.

Let’s imagine you wanted to introduce your workplace to your clients. You record a video of one of your staff members walking into your office. You decide that the first decisions point (the first question) will be running into Jonny, a college. You decide the first question will be: ‘What would you do, say hi to Jonny or run to the coffee machine to get coffee?’

From there, the viewer picks an option and jumps to the scenario chosen: running to the coffee machine or saying hi to Jonny, both of which you have recorded. This, you can play with in many different ways and add more questions to the video. Just make sure you record every scenario before you get started.